Logue Trails Far Behind In Bid For Seat In Congress

None of the three candidates identified by the Northampton County Democratic Party as backers of Lyndon LaRouche's organization appeared victorious in unofficial county returns last night.

William R. Logue of Allentown, a candidate in the 15th Congressional District, and Democratic Party State Committee candidates Jack Smith and Frank W. Mahorsky, both of Easton, trailed far behind in their races.

Unofficially, Logue came in third in the county with 466 votes. Joe Simonetta of Bethlehem easily captured the county with 8,763 votes, while Lower Nazareth Township resident Charles Buss received 3,322.

Throughout the district, Logue unofficially polled 3,626 votes.

In the state committee battle, Smith and Mahorsky polled 2,451 and 2,100 votes, respectively, in the race among five candidates for two spots.

Ironically, the other apparent loser among state committee candidates was Fred Williams of Easton, who was the party's designated LaRouche-spotter. Williams regularly appeared at candidates' forums to denounce the LaRouche candidacies and urge voters to turn them back at the polls.

The county Democratic Party executive committee on May 7 repudiated the LaRouche candidates.

County Democratic Party Chairman Phil Ruggiero opined, "I think it (the executive committee's repudiation) had a great impact. I think our campaign to educate the public probably had something to do with the defeat of those candidates - a lot to do.

"I'm not surprised that they didn't get in. I'm surprised that they did as well as they did in some of these areas."

Although the three LaRouche candidates spent little, if any, money on their candidacies, they attracted attention simply by being named as backers of LaRouche. LaRouche and his National Democratic Policy Committee have aroused resentment among traditional Democratic Party members by running on the ballot as Democrats. In particular, they took the country by surprise when two LaRouche supporters won the Democrats' nominations for lieutenant governor and secretary of state in Illinois.

LaRouche, a former socialist who now is associated with ultrarightist policies, has made a number of allegations that Democrats say are not at all in line with traditional Democratic beliefs. Among other things, LaRouche has charged that Queen Elizabeth of England is involved with international drug smuggling and that former Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale is an agent for the KGB, the Soviet secret police. Some supporters also have called for a quarantine of carriers of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Besides the three Lehigh Valley LaRouche Democrats, the county Democrats also repudiated the candidacies of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steven Douglas and U.S. Senate candidate George Elder, also LaRouche supporters.